"That's a great system, it just won't work here"

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that... It's the frustrating sound of a digital transformation grinding to halt due to what IT people call "change management" issues. There are other names for it:

1. The person making the statement might call it 'frank and fearless advice that is meant with the best of intentions to save the organisation from a disaster'.

2. The negotiation coach Chris Voss might call it 'the first of several "no"s that if properly addressed will ultimately lead to a "that's right"'. This involves genuinely listening and acting on the concerns raised. 

Unfortunately, some system implementations never get to point 2, because:

• to get past point 1, they need the willing participation of subject matter experts in requirements gathering, system training, user acceptance testing (UAT) and cutover planning; and

• It can be hard to find available time in the working month of these subject matter experts (Complex tasks can be difficult to backfill with temporary staff).

An easier way - Lucia Business Partners' Fish Bowl Services

Lucia Business Partners Fish Bowl Services can:

1. Analyse the on-screen activity of a subject matter expert in charge of a complex process (with their consent).

2. Document the as-is process.

3. Provide qualified staff to run the process in parallel with real data on the new system in a test environment.

4. Perform regression testing to analyse differences in the outputs between the old system and the new system.

5. Iterate steps 2 to 4 until the differences fall within an acceptance threshold.

6. Run a conference room pilot with real data in the new system to demonstrate parity with the old system.

We call this the Fish Bowl because a metaphorical live fish (the accurate processing of real data) is seen from all angles to have survived the change in environment.